Attack of the killer ravens

[Sweetpea]

A lamb would normally be above a raven in the pecking order by size alone. A good analogy of pecking order can be found in the song "the was an old lady who swallowed a fly".

It sounds like something from an Edgar Allen Poe novel to me. Rather freaky.

Eagles have been doing it for years.

We had a jet black cat who took out an entire family of starlings once, it was awesome. First, he emptied the nest that fell and killed the chicks. The parents actually swooped and attcked the cat defending their young which was quite sad to watch, as he took them out too. 4 birds in under 2 minutes. Cats, the ultimate killing machines. Domestic ones just being small killing machines.

[ambriel]

Ravens are very intelligent birds and so making the step from scavenger to predator wouldn't be a difficult one for them to make, but this is far from a new problem.

Around our way they've been blinding and maiming lambs and calves, to such an extent that the local Farmers Union are calling for a general cull of numbers.

This - the sharp rise in their numbers - is largely to blame for the rise in incidents and the press getting hold of the story.

I've seen lambs with their eyes pecked out and calves with their hind legs in shreds, bared the bones. In most cases they've been attacked soon after birth when they're at their most vulnerable. The vets have no option but to put them down.

Originally Posted by von Clausewitz

Eagles have been doing it for years.

True, but there remains a relatively low number of Eagles.

Originally Posted by churchill

We had a jet black cat who took out an entire family of starlings once, it was awesome. First, he emptied the nest that fell and killed the chicks. The parents actually swooped and attcked the cat defending their young which was quite sad to watch, as he took them out too. 4 birds in under 2 minutes. Cats, the ultimate killing machines. Domestic ones just being small killing machines.

That's pretty impressive. We've seven cats and they regularly kill birds, voles, mice, moles, and rabbits. Quite often they'll take a young rabbit, bring it home, get bored and release it again unharmed. Several times this year I've walked into the kitchen in the morning to find a bunny hopping around - not a mark on it. When they do eat the rabbits they always start with the head, for some reason.

Shame.

Originally Posted by ambriel

That's pretty impressive. We've seven cats and they regularly kill birds, voles, mice, moles, and rabbits. Quite often they'll take a young rabbit, bring it home, get bored and release it again unharmed. Several times this year I've walked into the kitchen in the morning to find a bunny hopping around - not a mark on it. When they do eat the rabbits they always start with the head, for some reason.

We had the same problem when we lived in a rural area. We worried though as many wild rabbits carry diseases and some clearly had mixamotosis.

[ambriel]

Originally Posted by churchill

We worried though as many wild rabbits carry diseases and some clearly had mixamotosis.

Mixy has all but died out nowadays, I'm pleased to say. Haven't seen an infected rabbit since my childhood in rural Northamptonshire.

They had a massive out break on Angelsey around 1976/7. Then I heard of a few cases in West Lothian in....hmmm.... 1994/5(?).

But other than that, nothing.

This was near Sandwich in Kent, about 7 years ago.